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smart skin based on camera angle


ZenPsycho

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Okay I'm not sure how to communicate this without examples but I'll try.

 

What I'd like to do, is have a group of flat 2D shapes, which are always shown frontwise like a sprite, so always facing the camera. However, I want the shapes to trade places with eachother, or animate depending on the angle the camera is looking at the object. Think of the game doom, and the 2D sprite characters drawn at all different angles.

 

I was thinking though, that since my shapes are just monotone- just a single color.. I could do them as illustrator files, import them using AI wizard, put them into a single model, attach a bone which orients toward camera, and use smartskin the scale up the shape I want, and scale down the shapes I don't want depending on the angle of the bone.

 

The problem I'm running into with that approach though, is that the angle of the bone with relation to the camera isn't activating my smartskin. What's more, from certain angles, the whole object rotates 180 degrees on the Z axis, which is not a behavior I desire.

 

So, is there a way to do this with smart skin? Or possibly some other method I've overlooked?

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Well, there are several ways I can think of to tackle it...but the way I would do it is to make a single panel with several decals applied that have a slider for each that make them visible (it could be an on/off as well)...with a single bone running from the bottom of the model to the top with the roll handle pointing to the front. Then, in the Action/Choreography, use an "aim roll at" constraint pointing the roll handle at the camera.

 

Here's a project file with an Action...it also has a final render of the Action in Quicktime (it only shows the decal changing stuff, I didn't put a bone in it).

 

Hope this helps.

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Thank you, that actually helps a great deal. Though, any ideas on how to make the image display dependant on the object's rotation? That is, Even though the flat plane would always be facing the camera, I would produce a series of images for each view of a 3D object, and I would like the image selection relationships to be based on which image the camera should be seeing.

 

I'm not sure I'm communicating that clearly enough, but it will have to do until I get some sleep.

 

To be a bit more clear, this is for the hair of a character I'm modelling, and for stylistic purposes, the hair cannot be modelled in 3D, it must be drawn in 2D and placed behind the character's head, and the image of the hair swapped out depending on which angle the character is being viewed from.

 

I'm sure there's some simple solution to this. I will try again using your advice, and perhaps I can find the solution on my own.

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I could be misunderstanding you, but, it seems like you could just make separate patches for each angle, decal them with what the hair should look like from that angle, place the patches behind the head at each angle, set on/off poses for controlling the transparency of the patches (setting 'on' to 0% transparency, 'off' to 100% transparency), set the default for each pose to 'off', put a bone in the model starting at the bottom and running to the top with the roll handle pointing forward, make a smartskin that turns on each pose depending on the position of the roll handle then in the Action/Choreography put an "aim roll at" constraint on that bone to aim the roll handle at the camera.

 

Hope that helps.

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Thinking about this one a little more, you could use a single four point patch with multiple decals set with on/off poses, rig it with a single bone running from botton to top, make the bone a child of the head, make smartskins based on the rotation of the bone on the 'Z' axis to turn on the decal needed for the direction the roll handle is pointing and then apply an "aim roll at" constraint to the bone in an Action/Choreography to the camera....just a little different than the previous suggestion.

 

Anyway, one less thing stuck in my head...hope it helps.

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